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September 29, 2012

13Ds are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 10 days of an entity's attaining a greater than 5% position in any class of a company's securities. Subsequent changes in holdings or intentions must be reported in amended filings.This material has been extracted from filings released by the SEC from Sept. 20 through Sept. 26, 2012. Source: InsiderScore.com

Kopp Investment Advisors increased its holdings to 3,998,075 shares (4.5%) after buying 1,163,445 shares from July 17 through Sept. 14 at prices ranging from $2.40 to $3.19. Kopp also disclosed selling 16,625 shares from July 19 through Sept. 4 at prices of $2.37 to $2.72 apiece.

Hedge fund Elliott Management decreased its holdings in the designer and manufacturer of networking equipment and software to 27,126,366 shares (5.9%) by selling 15,158,634 shares from July 30 to Sept. 21 at prices from $5.00 to $6.34 per share.

Elliott also disclosed buying 274,000 shares from July 25 to July 27 at prices from $4.76 to $4.95 apiece.

Gamco decreased its holdings in the maker of filtration systems to 2,127,800 shares (4.3%) after it sold 182,401 shares from July 30 through Sept. 19 at prices in a range of $46.94 to $50.01. Gamco also disclosed buying 1,000 shares from Aug. 1 through Aug. 17 at prices in a range of $47.45 to $49.26.

Orbimed Advisors decreased its holdings in the maker of DNA-sequencing and analysis systems to 1,724,379 shares (4.99%), after selling 1,294,600 shares from July 23 through Sept. 20 in a range of $2.95 to $3.08. On Sept. 17, Complete Genomics announced that it had entered a definitive merger agreement with China-based BGI-Shenzhen, valuing Complete Genomics at $3.15 a share, representing an 18% premium over the stock's prior closing price.

The Activist Spotlight

Business: Specialty retailer of young women's fashions Investor's Average Cost: $2.96 per share Stock-Market Value: $279 million ($3.13 per share) What's Happening: Clinton Group began a consent solicitation to replace all but one of the current directors with five Clinton nominees.

Key Numbers: 43%: decline in the company's stock price during the one-year period prior to Clinton announcing its consent solicitation. 30%: increase in an index of Wet Seal's competitors during the same time span. $16 million: Clinton's calculation of compensation paid to the current board over its tenure. 6.9%: percentage of WTSLA common stock owned by Clinton.

Behind the Scenes: Clinton is a successful multistrategy hedge fund with a checkered past in its activist efforts. Wet Seal is an underperformer with a shareholder base that has largely lost patience with its board's performance and compensation practices. The shareholders want change, but are reluctant to take on so much change. They want fresh blood, but don't want to hand over the company to what is essentially a new board.

This is a situation destined for a settlement. Wet Seal recognized this and made an insufficient settlement offer that included expansion of the board to nine directors and appointment of two new directors. Clinton rejected the offer, but the company named the two new directors anyway. A nine-person board is large for a company of this size, and any settlement would likely include the removal of some incumbent directors and the ultimate downsizing of the board.

-- Kenneth Squire

The 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund runby an affiliate of the author and not connected to Barron's, has no position in the securities mentioned here. In addition, the author publishes and sells 13D research reports, whose buyers may include representatives of participants in, and targets of, shareholder activism.